Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Nevertheless it seems clear that there is no solely technological solution; instead
the more important aspects are sociological and financial. For example the Handle
system provides the name resolution for several persistent identifier systems such as
DOI [
137
], which act essentially as look-up tables. However registration requires an
annual subscription fee and the question arises as to what happens if the fee is not
paid.
Two reasons for a Web page to become inaccessible are that the page is not
available on the machine (or the machine is no longer working) or the DNS entry
no longer exists - because the registration renewal fee has not been paid. It is well
known that most web pages' addresses (URLs) cannot be relied on in the long term.
But one can then ask whether there is a real difference between something like the
Handle System and URLs. One answer might be that a Handle or DOI lookup will
continue even if payment is not made; however this may cause problems with the
business case of these systems in the long term!
We argue here that the only realistic way for any system to be persistent is for the
sociological and financial support to be adequately guaranteed, for example by being
funded by national or international funders such as NSF or the EU. The technical
implementation is less important.
10.4 Context Information
This information
documents the relationships of the Content Information to its environment.
This includes why the Content Information was created and how it relates to
other Content Information objects existing elsewhere.
May archivists would regard context as the sine qua non of preservation. One
danger is that context becomes as difficult to pin down in meaning as “meta-
data”. For this reason OAIS defines the more precise concepts of Representation
Information, and the other components of PDI and Packaging, and then has context
as a general catch-all. Context does cover an extremely broad range of topics and it
is difficult to define a precise boundary. In fact Provenance Information, described
next, can be viewed as a special type of Context Information.
10.5 Provenance Information
This information
documents the history of the Content Information. This tells the origin or
source of the Content Information, any changes that may have taken place
since it was originated, and who has had custody of it since it was origi-
nated. This gives future users some assurance as to the likely reliability of the
Content Information.
